Beneath the Surface: the Impact of Social Judgment on the Transgender Community

The GlassBook Project collaborated with the transgender community in Newark, NJ and San Juan, Puerto Rico to create an advocacy effort addressing isolation, discrimination, violence and murder, bullying, abuse, depression and other mental health concerns which are alarmingly high.

There were four main points that this project addressed:

• Victim rights need to be upheld and crimes investigated without prejudice.

• Fair employment standards need to be in place so that discrimination because of gender identity and expression do not take place and the pervasive un/under-employment of the transgender community can be eradicated.

• Medical insurance coverage and training within the medical community should occur, so that preventive care and transgender medical needs can be addressed without financial hardship, shame and/or discrimination.

• Fair housing protections need to be established/upheld so that housing can be obtained and maintained without discrimination, and homelessness can be prevented.

Informing the effort was the Director of the Rutgers-Newark LGBTQ and Diversity Resource Center, Maren Greathouse, the LGBTT Citizens Alliance of Puerto Rico, Juan Carlos Vega and Transsexuals and Transgenders on the Move, Sophia Isabel Cruz, and the African American Center for Gay Concerns (AAOGC), Newark, NJ.

The Project debuted at the Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington DC for National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA